Two Injured, Two

Rescued As Trains

Smash Into Cars

BOCA RATON — Two trains slammed into cars at separate crossings on Tuesday, leaving two people injured in the second crash and two others indebted to a hero for their rescue in the first.

Tuesday's events marked the second and third train accidents in Boca Raton in a week. On March 15, a motorcyclist was killed when he was struck by a CSX train on Yamato Road just west of I-95. Witnesses said he was trying to save his motorcycle, which was stuck in the tracks, when he was hit.

In Tuesday's second crash, shortly after 8 p.m. at Glades Road and Dixie Highway, the crossing gate and signals apparently malfunctioned, allowing a pair of unsuspecting vacationers to cruise onto the tracks as a southbound freight train rammed them.

The car spun into the Glades-Dixie intersection and hit another car.

"Once we saw that the car was going across the tracks, we knew there was no way they were going to make it," said Bob Stover, 31, the driver of the second vehicle.

Stover, of Boca Raton, was not injured.

In the earlier accident, at 8:35 a.m. on Palmetto Park Road just west of I-95, police say Joanne Valiante, 51, of Deerfield Beach, was driving west when she saw the warning lights and slowed down, ready to stop, but she was hit from behind by another car and shoved onto the tracks.

Luis Vega, 23, of Boca Raton, in a third car, stopped a few car lengths behind.

"I saw the train coming," Vega said. "I saw the lady in the [second) car get out. But I didn't see the other lady [Valiante) get out."

Vega said Valiante had opened her car door but was not getting out quickly enough to avoid being hit by the train. So he yanked her out of the car.

"She was trying to get her papers or her wallet from the car," Vega said. "I pulled her and the other lady away and the train hit the car. It flew and started flipping over and over. Then she [Valiante) kind of passed out in my hands. I'm just glad I had a chance to save somebody and I did."

In the Glades Road accident on Tuesday night, Boca Raton police Officer Ed Morley said the gates had been stuck in the down position a couple of hours earlier.

A railroad crew "came right out and put them back up and they began working," Morley said.

It was not known whether railroad employees were working on the signals at the time of the crash. A Florida East Coast Railway police officer who arrived at the scene refused to comment.

Stover said he was stopped at the traffic light at Dixie and Glades, near the tracks.

"We noticed the train coming through the bushes, but the [railroad crossing) lights were not on, and the gates weren't going down," he said.

The train hit the front of the car, causing it to spin before hitting Stover's car, he said.

Stover and his passenger escaped injury. His car received minor damage.

"It looked like the train tried to brake, but it couldn't in time," Stover said. "It pushed the car and I saw the car rolled toward me. I'm glad it was going slow."

Early today, police identified the driver and passenger of the car hit on Glades Road as Harolene Johnston, 35, and her husband, Tim Johnston, 37, of Grove City, Ohio.

Tim Johnston, the passenger, was taken to Delray Community Hospital, where he is expected to remain for a few days. His condition was reported as serious.

Harolene Johnston was treated and released at Boca Raton Community Hospital, police said.

In the earlier accident on Palmetto Park Road, witnesses say Valiante would have been killed if not for Vega.

Amtrak officials said the 17-car train was traveling about 80 mph and estimated that Vega had about 20 seconds to rescue Valiante.

Valiante's car was demolished.

"It just looked like a big pile of junk someone dumped on the side of the road," police Sgt. Mike McCutcheon said. "From 50 yards, it wasn't recognizable as a car."

The driver of the car that pushed her onto the tracks, Raymonde Greer, 53, of Highland Beach, was given a traffic citation for careless driving.

Vega's wife, Rossana, was with Vega and watched in fear as her husband rescued Valiante as the train sped toward the crossing.

"Everything happened so fast," Rossana Vega said. "I thought he was the one who was going to be killed. He risked his life to save someone else. I'm so proud of him right now."